After finishing a sterling 23-4 last season and winning a Golden Valley Conference League title, the College of the Siskiyous women's basketball team appears to be on the right track again this year.

The Lady Eagles are 8-1 for the year and have been noticed in the polls. Currently they are ranked No. 9 in the state and No. 4 in Northern California.

"I can't complain," longtime head coach Tom Powers said. While the team is not dominating opponents like it did last season where they could consistently win games by 20 or 30 points, or shooting as high of a percentage, Powers likes how steady his squad has been overall.

It helps that two key players that contributed last season in post players Hailey Wales and Anna Cameron are back. Cameron is leading the team in scoring by averaging 17.3 points per games and Wales has 14.3 points per game. Another key contributor is guard Shyanna Ashworth, who is averaging 17 points per game.

A key newcomer this year is freshman point guard Carrie Watson, who played her high school ball at Yreka High. While the 2009 graduate has not played on a team since that time she has proven she can play at a high level. Watson is averaging 10.4 points per game despite missing the past two contests due to injury. She is expected to play in today's game at the Monterey Peninsula Tournament against Bakersfield. A feature story on Watson is set to run in the Daily News on Friday.

Powers added that "we've been better defensively" and said that they are certainly making strives in that department.

This past season, a key factor in their four losses was that their post players fouled out early in those games. He said that he has worked with the team to try to avoid getting into foul trouble.

The Lady Eagles last played at home on Nov. 20 when they defeated Chabot 88-51 and are not scheduled for another game in Weed until Jan. 4 against Porterville. COS opens conference play on Jan.12 at Lassen. While it is not ideal that there is more than a month between home game, Powers said that it could be worse. For example, the COS men's basketball squad has only six home games all season compared to 10 for the Lady Eagles. Powers believes his team should contend for another league title this season and hope to make a deep run in the playoffs. Last season COS made it to the second round.